How are you taxed if you are self-employed? What are the special rules for certain types of workers? 

When you are self-employed you have to account for, and pay, your own tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

  • The amount of tax and NICs you pay is based on your accounting profits earned in the tax year.
  • Your accounting profit is your self-employment income less your expenses.
  • This accounting profit may then be adjusted for various tax allowances or add-backs. 
  • To work out how much tax is due, you need to add up your profit plus all your other income from different sources e.g. employment, bank interest, dividends, and then deduct your personal allowance and any other tax allowances. The result is then taxed at a basic, higher or additional rate and NICs will be calculated based on your profit.
  • Expect your tax bill to be something like 10-30% of your profit if you are a Basic rate taxpayer. The size of your tax bill will depend on whether you have other income to use up your tax-free allowances and what expenses you can claim to reduce your profit.

There are different ways of accounting and claiming your expenses.

  • This guide shows a business operating on a cash received/cash paid basis (the Cash basis), claiming actual expenses.
  • Other guides take a closer look at what you can claim and look at alternative claims and reliefs on offer.

Worked example

  • James decides to run his own business as a self-employed musician.
  • He prepares his accounts for each tax year.
  • The tax year starts on 6 April and ends on the following 5 April.

In the tax year 6 April 2022 to 5 April 2023, he earns £25,000 per year from session work, gigging and busking.

He claims tax relief on his business costs of £5,000 which are incurred on:

He has also bought a new laptop and a van for his work this year. These cost him £3,500.

His total costs are £8,500 (£5,000 + 3,500), making his profit for the year £16,500.

His accounts for the year ending 5 April 2023 are as follows:

Account name

£

Sales

25,000

Expenses:

 

Direct costs (stage costumes)

800

Use of home

550

Office costs (telephone)

400

Motor and travel

2,500

Subsistence

500

Accommodation

100

Repairs & renewals

150

Total expenses

(5,000)

 

 

Net profit (sales - expenses)

20,000

 

 

Less capital equipment costs

(3,500)

   
Profit for tax 16,500

 

Other income for 2022-23

  • He has earned £25 in interest and received £250 in dividends from some shares left to him by his grandmother.
  • He also earned £1,500 working as a barman. His employer deducted £300 in tax from his employment income.

Notification of liability

  • James should have notified HMRC when he commenced self-employment. The deadline for notifying is 5 October following the end of the tax year in which self-employment commences. 
  • HMRC will then send him a notice to file his tax return for 2022-23.

Tax and tax return

  • James must submit his 2022-23 return online by 31 January 2024, or the date specified on HMRC's notice (if later).
  • He enters his self-employed details in the self-employed section of the return,  his employment details in the employment section and the interest and dividends income in the savings and investment pages.
  • To complete his return he needs to know his tax reference (UTR) and his National Insurance number (NINO) and his employer's PAYE reference (this is from his P60 or P45 issued by his employer).

Tax calculation

His tax is calculated according to the return entries as follows:

2022-23 tax year

£

£

Tax due

Employment income

 

1,500

 

 

 

 

 

Self-employed income

20,000

 

 

Less: capital expenses

(3,500)

 

 

Taxable profit

 

16,500

 

 

 

 

 

Interest

25

 

 

Less: savings allowance

(25)

 

 

Taxable savings income

 

0

 

 

 

 

 

Dividend

250

 

 

Less: dividend allowance

(250)

 

 

Taxable dividend income

 

0

 

Total income

 

18,000

 

Less: Personal allowance

 

(12,570)

 

Taxable income

 

5,430

 

Tax @ 20%

 

1,086

 

Less: tax deducted at source

 

(300)

 

Tax due

 

 

786

 

 

 

 

National insurance

 

 

 

Profit

16,500

 

 

Lower limit

12,570

 

 

Profits for NI

3,930

 

 

Class 4 NI @ 9%

 

 

354

Class 2 NICs (flat-rate £3.45 p.w.)

 

 

179

NICs due

 

 

533

 

 

 

 

Total tax & NI payable

 

 

1,319

 

He will then pay tax as follows:

Date

Detail

Tax

31/1/2024

Final payment for 2022-23

1,319

 

1st Payment on account for 2023-24*

570

 

 

 

31/7/2024

2nd Payment on account for 2023-24*

570

 

 

 

31/1/2025

Tax liability for 2023-24

  ?

 

Less: Payments on account already made**

(1,140)

 

Final payment for 2023-24

  ?

 

1st Payment on account of 2024-25

  ?

 

 

 

 Notes

*

  • Your first and second 'payment on account' is calculated as half of your tax and NI liability (excluding class 2 NI) for the previous year.
  • You only make a payment on account if your tax liability is £1,000 or higher.

**

  • Your payments on account are payments of tax in advance of the following year and so these are deducted from your following year's tax bill.

We don't know what James' tax bill is for 2023-24 so this is added when he files his next tax return. 

It is possible that his income for 2023-24 will be lower than 2022-23. If so, he can ask HMRC to reduce his payments on account for 2023-24.

Next guide in this series

Agency or Umbrellas
How to check whether your agency is putting you into an illegal tax avoidance scheme.


Squirrel ad


Are you enjoying our content? 

Thousands of accountants and advisers and their clients use www.rossmartin.co.uk as their primary TAX resource.

Register with us now to receive our receive our FREE SME Topical Tax Update & newletter